Why I love Catt Dahman....

So yeah, yeah, yeah ~ I know, I keep saying I'm going to keep this Blog updated and I don't but things DO keep getting in the way I promise! I'm not really ignoring you!

Today, I want to talk about my author friend, Horror writer Catt Dahman, and why I have so much love and respect for her right now!

I've mentioned her before as the author of the Z Is For Zombie series but she is also responsible for so much more! In the last six months or so , she has also released the awesome Smooth, Alice And Friends and most recently, Titanic Q.E.D which is a homage to H.P.Lovecraft and is simply a brilliant read! Her latest, Helen Of Troy, Vampire is still waiting to be read but I am expecting big things from it if it reaches her usual standards. (She will be nervous now, reading this and anticipating my latest review!)

I met Catt through Goodreads and, more specifically,  the Author-Reader Co-Op section, where she was asking for reviews for Z Is For Zombie. Anyway, she loved my brutally honest reviews so much that she took away some of the criticism I levied at her and rewrote two of the books in the series and made edits! How cool is that? That I had an influence on her work?? 

This kind of helped her get a Publishing Deal with Severed Press and ever since then she has continued to send me her books for review purposes and has continually praised me publicly and bigged me up at every opportunity!

Last Wednesday, this Guy called Gary Mundford was responsible for organizing this huge Zombie Fest event on Facebook where authors and fans could get together and exchange dialogue, win competitions and give away/ receive free E-book downloads. The event was a tremendous success and not least helped by Catt who stepped in to help when Gary became swamped by his real life. The event was awesome, I ended up getting loads of new stuff to read and offering out my review services but everyone agrees that if Catt hadn't jumped aboard, the chances are it might all ended up a bit of a damp squib. 

She has encouraged me to try writing stuff of my own because she says I have a way with words and so when this Zombie Fest announced that they would be producing an anthology of short fiction to commemorate the event I decided to give it a go. My story only went and got included!! The anthology is not quite ready yet because Gary is formatting and editing it in his spare time but 

will be free for a week, I think it was decided and, after that, will go on sale with proceeds going to the Walking Wounded charity. Now, if Catt hadn't have encouraged me to write, something I have toyed around with for years without actually ever really doing or achieving anything with it, then I would never have gotten my name in print! Now, I actually have something published though I am more nervous about Catt reading it than anyone else because she is my inspiration and my muse!

This is just one of the reasons as to why I am now putting her on my 1001 Books And Authors To Read before You Die list. Though there were moments when I might have thought her Z series faltered slightly and I  wondered how it could last 9 books, by the final novel I was suddenly realizing how close I was to the characters and how much I had enjoyed reading their exploits to the point that I became quite passionate and emotional at the way she treated them in the last book. I believe I even called her jokingly a "a nasty, sick bitch" for some of the things she put them through ~ something that she thankfully took as a huge compliment. Her words (and I paraphrase) were along the lines that these are the words every horror writer lives to hear! Lol!

Oh, but that's not enough. There's more reasons why I love this author and have nothing but the utmost respect for her. She is tireless to a fault, has anther 5 books on the go even now and even more irons in the fire. When Catt was on American Radio Station, Zombie Radio, doing an interview, she gave me a shout-out; she calls me HER British Reviewer and gets possessive over me if I offer my reviews to other authors and continues to tell me to keep going in regards to my writing to the point where I am now slowly putting together a portfolio of short horror fiction that I am toying with the idea of releasing as an anthology collection at some point in time! At the moment, that's all it is ~ just an idea I have but who knows where this will take me and I am determined to keep writing and see where it goes.

But that's still not it. Following after Zombie Fest, (and early indications are that it was such a success there will be another one) Catt and a few others have all gotten together to form a new Indie Publishing House as self-publishing looks like it is going to end up being a death knell for writers; due in part to all the dross that has flooded the market in recent years that has been self-published. And because she has so much love and respect for ME and my honesty and integrity, she has asked me to be one of her Editors checking submissions for quality when they come in. There is no money involved as yet but Catt and her team have high hopes and aspirations for this Publishing enterprise so who knows where this might lead and I might even have a foot in the door should I get anything together worth publishing. I don't expect any special treatment if I do and will expect to be treated just as any other author but can think of nothing more exciting than having Catt help promote my work!
 
I once told Mrs.Sparky, when talking about the artwork that I sporadically do, that I wanted to leave something behind to mark my passage. Maybe this is how it all starts to happen, how I will get to leave my mark, who knows... there are no guarantees in life but if you don't aim high then you might as well go home ~ a credo that I've kind of borrowed from Catt and her new Publishing House, J Ellington Ashton Press! Remember the name, because from little acorns, big trees grow and Catt and the rest of the team have all got high aspirations for this new endeavor....and to be asked to be a  part of this, though a little overwhelming, has left me feeling excited, thrilled and more than just a little bit flattered.

Anyway, that's it ~ I'm so sorry that this has been such a long post but I wanted to share with you all just a few of the reasons why I love Catt Dahman! She has become more than just my favourite author right now, she has become a dear friend and I hope that she feels the same. If you are reading this Catt, thank-you for inspiring me and believing in me and I promise to live up to all your expectations of me!

That's me, Sparky, signing off... (for now...)

xxxx 

P.S all my reviews of her books are available on Goodreads and Amazon, so feel free to check them out and don't forget to give her books some of your own love! 

My thoughts on Event Horizon: Z is for Zombie 2

"Event Horizon is the second book in the Z is for Zombie series and continues on from events in the first story. A group of survivors has left the derelict hospital basement where they have been living to try and find somewhere else safer and easier to defend for them and the rest of their increasingly growing numbers. But the world outside has changed and it is no longer just the Zeds that the group have to be worried about! As all of them begin having dreams about a one eyed man and a wolf, they realise that something bigger is afoot and that a climatic battle beteen good and evil is building on the horizon....

This is a great second entry with a much more epic and grandiose feel to it, akin in many ways to Stephen King's The Stand in the way that two sides are slowly starting to form. Here we get to see the origins of those two opposing forces as we discover how the division between them first came about and start to get a feel for the bigger picture that is starting to evolve.

These books are very character-driven, with much emphasis on how the survivors cope and adapt to the different situations they must face, but you get the sense that something much bigger and dramatic is just around the corner! I especially like the fact that no-one is safe and that almost anyone could succumb to tragedy at any moment. This gives an extra level of danger to the books as you are never quite sure what is coming....

Keep up the good work Miss Dahman. This ambitious series is slowly going from strength to strength...."

So Zombies aren't real...? Part 3

ForbesWoman

5/30/2012 @ 2:44PM |74,650 views

Synthetic Drug 'Bath Salts': Did It Cause The Cannibal Attack And Why Can't The Feds Stop It?

(Image credit: AFP/Getty Images via @daylife)

The concern over synthetic drugs has come to a head in recent months, according to experts, and evidenced by events in Miami last weekend. On Saturday, Rudy Eugene was fatally shot by police for gruesomely and repeatedly biting into another man’s face. President of the Miami Fraternal Order of Police Armando Aguilar believes that bath salts, a synthetic drug, is an underlying culprit in Eugene’s disturbing attack.

Bath salts are highly addictive and apparently elicit intense cravings similar to methamphetamines. They act on the brain like other stimulants, and are sometimes referred to as a “cocaine substitutes.” Also known as “White Rush, Cloud Nine, Ivory Wave, Ocean Snow, Charge Plus, White Lightning, Scarface, Hurricane Charlie, Red Dove, White Dove, and Sextasy,” their most common side effects are agitation, fast heart rate, and hallucinations and delusions, seizures, high blood pressure, and paranoia, according to the CDC. Deaths have also been linked to the drug.

“These substances are among the worst poison centers have ever seen,” said director of the Louisiana Poison Center, Mark Ryan. “The psychosis seen in some users is truly remarkable, in a very scary way. People high on these drugs have done some bizarre things to themselves and hurt others around them. It’s important that parents and young people understand just how dangerous these synthetic drugs are.”

Last fall, the Drug Enforcement Administration banned bath salts and their active ingredients, mephedrone, methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV), and methylone. “This action demonstrates our commitment to keeping our streets safe from these and other new and emerging drugs that have decimated families, ruined lives, and caused havoc in communities across the country,” said Michele M. Leonhart, DEA Administrator. “These chemicals pose a direct and significant threat, regardless of how they are marketed, and we will aggressively pursue those who attempt their manufacture and sale.”

The drugs are generally snorted, taken by mouth, or injected. One recent CDC study found that the majority of 35 patients brought to the ER for overdose had injected the drug. The same report suggested that for the one person who died from it, that MDPV was the chemical most likely linked to the death. Many of patients also had other drugs, like cocaine, benzodiazepines, opiates, marijuana, or amphetamines, in their systems at the time.

Bath salts are sold at convenience stores, “head shops,” and gas stations, or may be purchased on the Internet. They are often mislabeled to avoid detection by officials, and their labels may read “Not Intended for Human Consumption,” according to the CDC.
The government has had a hard time keeping up with synthetic drugs, as has been seen with synthetic marijuana in recent years. Calls to poison control centers for synthetic drug-related emergencies have risen drastically over the last several years, according to the American Association for Poison Control Centers (AAPCC): In 2010, there were 3,200 calls to poison control, and this number rose to over 13,000 in 2011. Perhaps incidents like recent episode in Miami will bring the drugs’ neurological effects to public consciousness, and help spur officials to crack down on bath salts at their source – the people who concoct them in underground labs. But time will tell how the issue will evolve from here.
Follow me @alicewalton or find me on Facebook.

So Zombies aren't real...? Part 2

Washington

6/01/2012 @ 6:36PM |55,091 views

Zombie Cannibal Apocalypse- CDC Weighs In, But Is ABC's Castle to Blame?

Zombie Pandemic Imagery, courtesy of the CDC http://www.cdc.gov/phpr/zombies/#/page/1

As of late Friday there were nearly 1,000 news stories about cannibals featured on Google News.  Stories about zombies were also starting to catch on, mostly tied to the tragic and sad story of an attack on a homeless man in Miami that left the man faceless. Gawker weighed in on the story with a piece aptly entitled “Could People Please Stop Eating Other People’s Body Parts?”  Some have speculated that the cannibalism (zombieism?) is being caused by a virus, others like Forbes contributor Alice Walton have attributed it to synthetic drugs.  In fact, cannibal stories have popped up not only in Miami, but other related stories with zombie/cannibal overtones have cropped up around the world including:

• A story in Maryland where a man has been charged with killing a man and eating his brain’s and heart.
• A story in Canada about a porn star turned murderer and cannibal who is currently on the run from police.
• A story in Sweden where a man is alleged to have cut off his wife’s lips and eaten them. And a separate story where a woman is alleged to have bitten her boyfriend’s penis.
• A story in New York where a man chewed the ear off of of another man at a Staten Island restaurant.
• A story in New Jersey where a man stabbed himself repeatedly in front of police and then threw his skin and intestines at them.

That may look like a trend, but Scott Talan, a professor of public communication tells CNN:

Fact is, horrible crimes happen all the time.  “This is all nothing new,” said Scott Talan, professor of public communication at American University, with a long work history in public relations and the media.  Bad news attracts attention, he said, and when it happens in bunches, people like to attach a name to it, hence, “zombie apocalypse.”

Maybe.  But, for those who are worried about the Zombie Apocalypse, fear not, the CDC has weighed in with a Zombie Preparedness webpage.  Granted, they told The Huffington Post that there is no such thing as a zombie virus, stating “[The] CDC does not know of a virus or condition that would reanimate the dead (or one that would present zombie-like symptoms).”  But would they tell us if they did?  Governments have a record of keeping these types of thing secret as Jeanne Guillemin, author of Biological Weapons: From the Invention of State-sponsored Programs to Contemporary Bioterrorism pointed out in a blog post at The Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology:

…in the aftermath of the 2001 anthrax letters, when the US Postal Service (USPS) and the CDC, knowing the Brentwood postal facility in Washington, DC, was contaminated, waited four days before closing the facility and giving antibiotics to workers. By that time, one worker had already died of inhalational anthrax, another was hours from death, and two more were gravely ill. In another telling incident, for six weeks the government of China denied its 2003 SARS epidemic, causing international alarm and a preventable spread of the disease.

So maybe it’s a secret government plot, my guess is that it’s a news trend kicked off by the television show Castle.  After all, it was late April when Castle and Beckett solved the case of a man beaten to death and partly eaten by a zombie.  In the episode, the man was actually high on a synthetic drug and didn’t remember attacking the victim.  But, in the show (which aired before the crime in Miami) surveillance cameras caught part of the action, just like in Miami.  You can watch the full episode here — it’s the type of story that headlines are ripped from.

Gregory S. McNeal is a professor who specializes in law, public policy, national security & crime.  You can follow him on Twitter @GregoryMcNeal.

So Zombies aren't real....?

Zombie attack in Miami?

May 29, 2012

Rudy Eugene

"In Miami this past Saturday someone riding their bike noticed one man attacking another man. They were both completely naked. The attacker who has been identified as Rudy Eugene was literally chewing off the victims face.

The person on the bike apparently told the man to stop doing that and Rudy Eugene looked at him with flesh in his mouth and growled. The bicyclist sought help from the police. After police arrived they told Eugene to leave the man alone and to back away. Eugene didn’t respond so the police shot and injured him. This didn’t stop Eugene. He got back up and starting biting the victims face again while growling. Shortly after that he was shot around 5 more times before being fatally wounded.

According to sources Rudy Eugene lost his house in 2011 and was homeless since then. He has been arrested quite a few times since he was 16. Things like marijuana charges and a battery charge which was later dropped. The victim was unrecognizable due to the injuries sustained by Eugene.

“Seventy-five to 80 percent of his face was missing,” Armando Aguilar of the Miami Fraternal Order of Police Aguilar told NBC Miami. “He was actually swallowing pieces of the man’s face.”
“The guy, he was like a zombie, blood dripping, it was intense,” The New York Daily News quotes Vega as saying . “The closest thing I’ve seen to it? ‘The Walking Dead’.”


This is a REAL news story- not made up! Ignore what I said in the last post ~ Zombies are coming to get you Barbara.....they ARE coming to GET you!

Why I looove the [REC] films....

Right about now, it is all about [REC] and more importantly, [REC]:Genesis. I watched this last week and absolutely LOVED it!!! So, I thought I had to share my thoughts and tell you lovely people just what thought....

" [REC] 3: Genesis is the third and penultimate entry in the [REC] franchise and begins prior to events in the first film before then running parallel alongside the original movie. Fans will recall that [REC] 1 and 2 were entirely focused around an apartment building in Spain where an "infection" had occurred that turned everyone inside into zombies. [REC] 3 looks at what happened elsewhere around the same time as the "infection" attempts to spread in another part of the country.

[REC]: Genesis is set entirely around the wedding of Koldo and Clara; two childhood sweethearts who have finally decided to tie the knot. The film begins like a traditional Wedding video with shots of the happy couple as they were growing up and video footage of all the preamble that leads up to the ceremony. Much like with Cloverfield, all this takes about 20 minutes as we are slowly introduced to the principle characters and learn a bit about them and their lives. Things all start to go a bit sour however, when it comes to the evening Reception...

A distant relative of the groom, Koldo's Uncle in fact, is a Vet who has been bitten by a dog. The same dog that bit the little girl in the apartment building from the first film. At first he seems alright, a little distant perhaps but fine, but by the evening, he has started to lose colour and is swaying as though drunk. In the middle of the Reception, the Uncle falls from a balcony to land on the dance floor. Standing up, he begins spraying the guests with blood. Suddenly the whole ballroom erupts as guests turn upon each other and begin attacking each other. Panic ensues and Koldo and Clara become separated.....
And that is the main focus of the film. Can the happy couple, split up in what looks to be the worst day of their lives, manage to reunite? Will either of them survive until the final reel? Can eternal love really triumph when faced with insurmountable odds?

[REC] 3 is an awesome, awesome film and probably one of the best entries in the series so far but has not been received without a bit of criticism. This is for two reasons: firstly that it is a more humorous affair than either of the first two offerings with much dark humour in an Evil Dead 2 kind of style. And secondly, because, about a third of the way through, the film abandons the Camcorder style of the first two films when the Groom smashes the video camera being used to film events. From this moment on, the rest of the film pretty much watches like a traditional horror flick and for some diehard fans, they see this as breaking the established rules of the [REC] series!

I think this is a little unfair and, as one reviewer has said, if this was an independant film outside of the [REC] series then it would probably have gotten a better response! I think the different camera technique and the humour both lend a different feel to this film, making it stand out as not just another [REC] movie but allowing it to stand on its own merits! I also think a bit of humour is very welcome seeing as how the final chapter [REC]:Apocalypse looks like returning to the dark, gritty nature of the first two films as the "infection" begins to spread outside the original apartment building and escapes the quarantined zone!

I loved this, watched it a week ago, and am already planning to watch it again! It is gruesome, horrible and very nasty in places but there a couple of great twists and, along the way, is very, very funny! There are some real comedy moments here ("Sponge Bob!" "Actually, for legal reasons I cannot be called 'Sponge Bob', I must be referred to as John Sponge...it's complicated") that break up the darkness and provide some much needed humour but there is also a lot of nastiness as you might come to expect from this series. It's not giving anything away, as you can see from the cover, that I can tell you that, at one stage, the Bride even ends up wielding a chainsaw! Don't mess with a Bride on her special day......

Can I recommend this? Hell, if you don't have this in your life you are seriously missing out! The DVD comes with two hours of extra features and this includes a making of the film, deleted scenes (that don't really amount to much) and a few extra bits and bobs and can be picked up at Asda for £10 right now which is a bargain!

This film just proves once again that the [REC] series is, without doubt, the best horror franchise of all time and simply is amazing, awesome and absolutely brilliant. Can I gush about this any more....probably not, but this is one of those films that just makes you want to shout about it. Foreign language horror cinema has NEVER EVER  been better than now...


As an aside, I think I have been suffering from too much Zombie exposure right now.....I keep having Zombie dreams. In one, my house was being attacked and I was trying to fend them off by blocking their way up the stairs while me, Vicky and Emilie tried to escape into the loft. After watching [REC] Genesis, I dreamt that one was trying to bite me so I forced my leather-clad arm into its mouth whilst I thrust my thumb deep into its eye trying to reach its brain! Both times, I have woken up in the early hours thinking I need a better strategy for when or if this ever happened! It's a good job I know better in the daylight hours that the Zombie Apocalypse is unlikely ever to happen...